lailla says: We got engaged on 9th June 2014, while at Portals Beach in Majorca. We had been together for 12 years and just bought our first home together. Whilst on holiday Harry took me out for a beautiful meal to celebrate our 12 years. Afterwards he insisted we went for a walk on the beach, to which I resisted as I didn’t want to walk on the sand in the dark! After lots of persuading I gave. There was a full moon over the sea, Harry walked me to the tide where he got down on one knee and presented me with my amazing Hearts On Fire engagement ring! He followed by picking me up, spinning me round while our feet were in the sea and nobody was to be seen – just the light from the moon over the water! Afterwards we celebrated with champagne in a small bar overlooking the sea.

We set the date for 27th April 2016. I chose this date as I believe a Wednesday is my lucky day – I was born on a Wednesday and Harry proposed to me on a Wednesday, so I felt like it was right. I wanted a spring wedding as it’s my favourite season and April is by favourite month.

Newton Hall in Northumberland, was our chosen venue. I have always loved Alice in Wonderland and from the moment I walked in to Newton Hall I felt like I was in a wonderland! I loved how different it felt in comparison to other venues – it was both quirky and beautiful, and I loved the building from the outside too! I also liked that it was quite compact as I knew our wedding was going to be quite intimate. The staff at Newton Hall had a huge impact on my decision as they were all so kind and professional!

I chose a theme of timeless elegance for the wedding as I like to keep things quite plain and I didn’t want a look that would date. In keeping with this, the colour scheme was platinum white and a hint of silver.

In the beginning I had my heart set on having a long sleeved lace wedding dress. I visited numerous shops trying on this style of dress but found that they didn’t suit me. I was so disheartened as I had a strong image in my head of what I wanted. I ended up finding my dress by chance at Elizabeth George Bridal. I had an image on my phone from Pinterest of a dress that I liked but had no idea who it was designed by or where I could find it! When the girls in the shop held up a dress and suggested I tried it on I said I didn’t like the style of it, but my mum and sisters made me try it on, and I then realised it was that dress on my saved images! I did try some more on afterwards but we felt it was meant to be after the coincidence of that being the one I had found online! I teamed my dress with a very plain, long veil as my dress was quite detailed and anything else would have been too much. I also wore Jimmy Choo heels.

Who said pretty pastels couldn’t come with a huge dose of glamour? Today’s real bride Hayley and new husband Stephen are ripping up the rule book with their soft and stylish Real Wedding at Rockliffe Hall.

Hayley says: We got engaged at the Burj al Arab, Dubai in February 2006. Steven proposed on Christmas day in 2005. We didn’t want a party so we celebrated our engagement with a trip Dubai to pick a ring.

We were married on 22nd September 2013 at Rockliffe Hall, Darlington. I wanted a classy and timeless wedding and Rockliffe offers modern and old mixed together. We had our ceremony in the old arches which offered a nicer feel than just a function room. The colour scheme is quite neutral which enabled us to go for any colour scheme we wanted.

We had lilacs, lavenders, ivories and a beautiful thistle colour in our stationery. Grey suits for the gents, accented with lilac cravats and handkerchiefs to give a subtle bit of colour to blend in with the rest of the wedding. My dress and the bridesmaids were all ivory. I wanted a neutral palette with the flowers taking centre stage.

My dress was from Solutions Bridal Designer House in Orlando Florida. The dress was antique ivory with ivory lace in a mermaid strapless fit. I opted for a very long veil trimmed in the same lace as the dress and a very glamorous belt made by Maria Elena and Manolo Blanik shoes with a beautiful vintage brooch on the front.

The hair was prepped by myself the evening before (I’m am a hairstylist) ready for my friend Carol-Anne Jenkinson who is the owner of Platinum Hair Design in Sunderland. She also did her magic on the bridal party. I had my makeup done by Amanda Bell Elite Makeup Artist.

Our flowers were by Adam Prest who is very unique in his work and knew exactly what I wanted. My bouquet consisted of a vibrant lilac roses, astrania, astilbe,clematis,snowberries and sweetpeas. They smelt beautiful. The bridesmaids had smaller versions of my flowers with a mix for the top table and centre pieces for the tables at the wedding breakfast. We also had similar mixture for the gents’ button holes and ladies’ corsages.

We had six bridesmaids from two years old to sixteen. The younger bridesmaids wore dresses from Monsoon and the two older bridesmaids wore a dress from Coast which was from the bridal range. I think they blended nicely together.

The groomsmen wore hired suits from Gavin Scott Menswear in Washington. The grooms suit was made by Ian Bone a visiting tailor. He came to our home and measured Steven up, we picked the material and and cut of the suit. It was a very professional and friendly service from Ian and we had two more fittings before the finished result.

Our photographer was the amazing Lee Scullion. We had a lot of recommendations from people but as soon as I saw Lee’s work I knew he was the man for the job.

Our videographers were Chris and Janet Hughes for One Digital Image – a great husband and wife team. They made a one minute video summarising the day so we could share with our guests and friends which was really unique in itself and was ready to view the following morning.

Our save the dates and invitations were by Noble Fine Art. They also made our favour boxes, the menu for the tables at the wedding breakfast and the seating plan in a beautiful pearl stock paper with thistle ribbon.

We had handmade chocolates made for the favour boxes from Robineau Patisserie in Darlington and mini bottles of whiskey for the gents.

The cake was from Celebration Cakes in Peterlee, I scaled it down from the original design in the shop. It had six tiers with all different sponges and fruit cake. It had a pearl covering with roses and lace made from sugar paste and tied in with all the little elements from the wedding.

We had Val Boyers singer and guitarist singing during our wedding breakfast and a fantastic local band (Fate) singing live on the evening of the wedding.

Prime Entertainment provided Formula One cars which were very popular and we also hired Snaparazzi and their fabulous photo booth. We got a book of everyone’s photos who had been in the photo booth with a message alongside the photos which is a really nice and different keep sake.

I downloaded an app called Wedpics and invited all our guests to upload all their photos. I thought this to be better than having disposable cameras and it worked well.

Honeymoon wise, we’re are still working on that one, we want something different!

My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to enjoy and take every moment in because it goes over far too fast and don’t drink to much Champagne!

If you like pretty – and I know that you do – you are going to love today’s Real Wedding. Aylsa and Martin’s big day at dream venue Beamish Hall is a sugar spun confection, whilst staying on the right side of classy. Sweet and lovely.

Aylsa says: We got engaged Christmas Day 2009. I was pregnant with our little girl Isla at the time and I was still living at home with my parents. Martin had been planning it behind my back with my parents. He had arranged to arrive early on Christmas morning. The doorbell rang and everyone ignored it so I had to get up. I answered it to Martin holding up place cards like the Keira Knightly scene in the film Love Actually. There was even a soundtrack of Silent Night.

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We got married on Saturday 29th December 2012 at St Catherine’s church and our reception was at Beamish Hall. We had been to weddings at Beamish Hall before and knew how much of a beautiful venue it was. It was the first venue we looked at and knew it was the right place for our wedding. It has a cosy atmosphere and the grounds are very picturesque.

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We chose an English Vintage theme, with a colour scheme of ivory and pastel pink.

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My dress was Augusta Jones ‘Ali’ dress which is a full lace fitted dress with round neck and long train. It was one of the first dresses I tried on in Lily White Bridal Boutique in Jesmond. I did not even go to any other shops as I knew this was the dress for me.

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My bridesmaids all had champagne and gold dresses from Monsoon. The groomsmen wore black dinner suits from Slaters in Newcastle.

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I designed my bridal bouquet and my daughter’s bouquet which were matching pink and cream fabric and brooch bouquets. I have since set up Love is Vintage where I design and handcraft fabric, brooch and button bouquets. My two older bridesmaids carried pink and ivory roses by Adam Prest. Adam is a fantastic florist. I have never seen work like this before and the flowers fit in so well with our theme.

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The vows were the most emotional part but something that stood out to both of us was the first time were alone together without any guests when getting photographs taken at Wharton Park, Durham City. The view of the cathedral was breath-taking and to be there as husband and wife was very special.

Our wedding photographer was Helen Russell Photography. We cannot thank her enough for giving us such beautiful wedding photos. I have never seen photos of this quality before by any other photographer and we would highly recommend her to anybody getting married. She is truly talented!

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We bought most of our vintage decor from Country Baskets. Beamish Extras provided us with a lot of vintage decor including the old style camera centre piece and ink well centre piece.

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Our cake was made by Caramel Bobs and we chose a traditional fruit cake for the top tier and the remaining tiers were vanilla cupcakes with ivory and lace detail. The cake not only looked amazing but tasted sensational.

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We used old fashioned photos of family members from their wedding days on a family table. This included photographs of some members of family who had passed away, this added sentimental value.